Airbag units for motor vehicles are widely known. Airbags are installed at a multiplicity of locations in a motor vehicle in order to protect the vehicle occupants against direct impact on the vehicle structure or on parts of the interior fittings. For this purpose, compressed gas sources are activated when sensors detect an accident or an imminent accident. As a rule, the airbags are arranged behind trim panels in order, firstly, to impart an as pleasant as possible impression of the interior fittings of the vehicle to the vehicle occupant and, secondly, to protect the airbag, which is generally folded, against external influences. Suitable compressed gas sources are compressed gas accumulators and pyrotechnic propellants which may also be used together. If said “gas generators” are activated, the airbag is filled with deployment gas, expands and tears the covering or trim panel along the predetermined breaking lines provided for this purpose, and therefore the airbag can be deployed into the vehicle interior in front of the vehicle structure or an interior fittings device. To ensure a reproducible deployment operation and to influence the deployment characteristics, a “firing channel” is provided into which the deploying airbag extends from the airbag module before the airbag penetrates the covering.
DE 20 2005 012 216 U1 describes an airbag unit for a motor vehicle, in which an airbag module is connected to an annular wall of an instrument panel by latching means. The latching means are designed such that they are effective between the annular wall, the instrument panel and the opposite outer wall of the airbag module housing. The latching means act between the annular wall and the opposite outer wall of the housing and are movable transversely with respect to the annular wall such that the housing and the annular wall can be connected to each other in a simple manner by means of a relative movement along the longitudinal axis of the annular wall.